"Mage Storms 01 - Storm Warning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

was aware of that, certainly, my Emperor," he replied, his voice
smoothly neutral.

"Only a fool would have failed to notice your interest. But I am also
aware that I am just one of a number of possible candidates."

Charliss smiled, ever so slightly, with approval. Good.

Even if the man did not possess humility, he could feign it
convincingly. Another valuable ability.

"You happen to be my current personal choice, Tremane," the Emperor
replied, and he smiled again as the man's eyebrows twitched with
quickly-concealed surprise.

"It is true that you are not an Adept; it is true that you are not in
the direct Imperial bloodline. It is also true that of the nineteen
Emperors, only eleven have been full Adepts, and it is equally true
that I have outlived my own offspring. Had any of them inherited my
mage-powers, that would not have been the case, of course.. .

He allowed himself a moment to brood on the injustice of that. Of all
the children of his many marriages of state, not a one had achieved
more than journeyman status. That was simply not enough power to
prolong life-not without resorting to blood-magic, at any rate, and
while there had been an Emperor or two who had followed the darker
paths, those were dangerous paths to follow for long. As witness the
idiot Ancar, for instance-those who practiced the blood-paths all too
often found that the magic had become the master, and the mage, the
slave. The Emperor who ruled with the aid of blood-rites balanced on a
spider's thread above the abyss, with the monsters waiting below for a
single missed step.

Well, it hardly mattered. What did matter was that a worthy candidate
stood before him now, a man who had all the character and strength the
Iron Throne demanded.

And what was more, there was an opportunity before them both for
Tremane to prove, beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt, that he was
the only man with that kind of character and strength.

"Your duchy is in the farthest west, is it not?" Charliss asked, with
carefully simulated casualness. If Tremane was surprised at the
apparent change of subject, he did not show it. He simply nodded
again.

"The western border, in fact?" Charliss continued.

"The border of the Empire and Hardorn? " "Perhaps a trifle north of
the true Hardorn border, but yes, my Emperor," Tremane agreed.